Health

Wall Street loves news of fading public option

by SusanG

Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 07:18:02 AM PDT

Give financiers credit--they see through the bullshit and know exactly who's going to benefit if the public option gets dropped from health care reform. Hint: It ain't the public.

Shares of U.S. health insurers rose broadly on Tuesday on hopes a health reform bill would not include a government-run option, which has drawn strong opposition from insurers who fear it would destroy the private marketplace.

The S&P Managed Health Care index of large U.S. health insurers closed 6.5 percent higher.

Aetna rose 12.6 percent, Coventry was up 12.7 percent and Cigna was 7.7 percent higher, all on the New York Stock Exchange. Centene rose 7.9 percent.